Bluffing the Devil

chapter 12



The scent of nutmeg and cedar stirred me from my cozy slumber. I was about to be upset that I hadn't seen Devin when I cracked my eyes open and saw that I wasn't on the beach, but in a cozy bed. Soft candlelight illuminated the tiny space, but I was all alone. I rolled over and patchouli, vanilla, and musk emanated from the pillow. I wanted to bury my face in it and never come back up for air. It was an incredible smell. It was Devin. It was a manly sweetness, I had never encountered before but it was all Devin. It was delicious.

"If you push your face a little closer down, you can just put your head directly on the mattress and not even bother with that pesky pillow." Devin purred his playful words directly onto the back of my neck.

"Well, hello to you, too," I said, trying not to die of embarrassment that I was caught completely sniffing his pillow.

"No need to be shy, love. Every time you leave, I sniff my pillow for your scent also. You smell like summer to me warmth, vanilla, and lavender. It's very sexy," he said; his words still attempting to mate with my flesh.

"Well, at least I felt slightly less stalkerish now. Long time no see, Devin." I technically still wasn't seeing him, as he was laying on top of my back, pinning me to the bed. We were in the same room however, so it was close enough.

"I look forward to the day you have a nickname for me, love. We can try to come up with one right now. How about "stud" or "luscious"?" he said, planting tiny kisses along my neck and back. Maintaining my composure was going to be troubling enough, now he expected me to think straight, too?

"Umm, I can't think when you do that and "luscious", really, veto. I was thinking more like "muffin" or "honeybuns". If I recall, you have a pretty nice ass. I might need to see that again to verify though," I said playfully.

An instant later, he flipped me over and was on top of me in the same position he had been behind me. He grabbed my hand and placed it gently on his ass.

"Well?"

"Yeah, I knew I could trust my memory. Nice work." I patted him sweetly and giggled at the silliness of the whole conversation.

"I get it from my mama," he joked. I didn't remember a time when we just laid around and had fun together. Then I remembered that I was here on a mission and decided to look around for clues, and a way to rescue him.

I jumped out of bed and padded around the room touching everything I could get my hands on as Devin laid back on the bed and just watched me.

"I have other things you can touch, you know?" he offered with a twinkle in his eye. Ah yes, seeing him was always a good time for me. Those eyes were calling me back to him, but I had a mission and needed to stick to it.

"I will get to that in a moment. Where is your patience, sir?"

"I'm afraid I have no patience when it comes to you, miss." He would have to answer really cutely and make me go all girly again, wouldn't he?

As I took my time walking around his room, taking in everything I could, I suddenly realized there were no windows in the room.

"You have no windows? Weird, don't you like to let the sun shine in sometimes?"

"I would love that, but alas there are no windows."

"What about in the rest of your house? Can we see the other rooms, kitchen?"

"Hungry, love?"

"Nope, I was just being nosey through your things. I’m learning about you. That’s all." He was avoiding answering my questions. I could see that he wanted me to change the subject, but was trying to also do as I wished at the same time. I wasn't going to get anywhere with this tactic and needed to change my plan of attack.

I leapt into the bed and on top of him. "Hi," I said sweetly and planted a tender kiss on his cheek.

"Well, hi yourself. How nice of you to join me. I was starting to wonder if I had somehow transmitted a vicious case of the cooties, that you were nervous to contract or something."

"Nah, your cooties would be worth catching, I'm sure." I laid my head on his chest and began drawing little circles and lazy patterns across his exposed stomach.

"Are you trying to drive me insane, love?"

"Yes and no."

"What sort of answer is that?" he asked playfully.

"The same kind you give me. No, yes, it's dark. Pssh!"

"Fair enough," he conceded. "You seem very lost in thought, are you okay?"

Before I knew what I was saying, I blurted out, "What if I were to say that I wish you were real?"

"You must be careful what you wish for, beauty. It’s dangerous and not always as it seems."

"How can wishing I could be with you in real life be a bad thing? That's just something people say to threaten or warn people away from things they really don’t want or need."

"You want me?"

"Ha! Don't sound so shocked, lover boy." Yeah, I can throw out some useless nicknames, too. I'm not above it. "It's been a very long time, since someone made me feel good. Of course I would want you, if given the chance. Any idiot would."

His eyes wouldn't meet mine, no matter how hard I tried to look at him.

"You seem very tired, love. Why don't you try to get some rest. I will get us a snack," he said and he left the room. His scent covered the bed, and made me want to wrap myself around him. I closed my eyes and began to feel relaxed and comfortable.

A moment later, Devin walked back into the room. I couldn't see anything beyond the door, but he had a plate of fruit, cheese, and crackers in one hand and two glasses in the other. Aww, he really did think I wanted a snack, how sweet.

"Well, hello there, love. Did you rest well?" he asked as he sat the goodies down on the table beside the bed.

"Well, hello… did I rest? I feel as if I want to sleep every moment, but I'm never actually resting. I feel very cozy, but I didn't fall asleep in the few minutes you were gone, no. You know what's funny, before you entered my dreams, I wasn't sleeping almost ever. I had insomnia really bad and usually stayed up most night all night playing online poker. Oh well, I got what I asked for. At least I know God listens to prayers now," I said before realizing it.

His eyes flew to my face, "What do you mean God listens to your prayers? What prayer?"

"I asked for you. Not you directly, but I asked God in a prayer the night before you started coming to my dreams. I said I wanted someone that would turn my world upside down, make me rest when I was supposed to, make my body do things I didn't know existed, push me to reach my goals and dreams, and be a constant source of encouragement and inspiration in my life. I knew it was a tall order to fill, but if I was going to care for another man again, he was going to have to be as good as the last one that had my heart. The very next night, I fell asleep really early and you came to my dreams. It was crazy, but I didn't put two and two together until just last night.

"What helped you to see it was a granted wish, and not just something random? Or maybe I am a form of punishment to you? How can you know for sure?"

"Rey explained some things to me about how this whole things works, so I guess I just assume now that God answered my prayer. Now I just have to figure out how to make you real, or get you out of this place." I covered my mouth with my hand and realizing the shock of what I just said. Great, kill me now. I just told Mr. Sexiness on a Stick that I asked God for him, amazing. Do I even have a filter? At the exact same time I did that, I divulged that I spoke to a demon, know he is also a demon, and that I realize that this was not just a dream. Way to go, Alexia! You can really drop the ball on things sometimes.

I heard him suck in his breath quickly, and then silence enveloped us.. His eyes were locked on mine so intensely, I was nervous that looking away might cause us both pain or we would combust or something.

Then, slowly he exhaled and murmured "I am not a gift from God, Alexia. I am a curse, a punishment."

I broke eye contact and huffed, "Oh God, here we go! A curse, someone that I can laugh with and that will rock my world, is a curse? Someone who always wants what is best for me, even if it denies him what he really wants, that's a curse? Well, sign me up."

"You don't even know what you're saying, stop being insane. I'm evil."

"Wake up and smell the brimstone, buddy. You are not here because of your wrongs. You are here out of the spite and anger of someone else. You wanted better in life and were taken before you could fix that. You're trying now. There is a lot to be said for true remorse and making amends in life. We all make mistakes. You're only human," I said then paused. "Well, you were human. Are you technically still human now? I don't care. You made a human mistake or two dozen, but that doesn't mean you are evil."

"Thank you," he said. His eyes were downcast to the floor as if he looked ashamed. "I am a demon, but technically still human. Everything is in working order."

"Yeah, I didn’t forget," I said sending him a little wink to accentuate my point. When he blushed slightly, I added, "And anyway, I did ask God for you. I saw you in my mind before and knew you were something special and drop dead gorgeous, so I asked. I figured that the worst thing that could happen would be me wanting you, and you not wanting me in return. Isn't that how normal bad dreams work? That or you would be a serial killer who gutted me and wore me as a skin suit, also not much fun for me."

Even in the face of what was going on, Devin laughed, a beautiful, hearty laugh. "Skin suit? Wow. Need some lotion for those elbows? They are lookin' mighty mummified." His laughter continued for the better part of a full minute, and he wiped his eyes. "Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Thank you, love."

"No problem! I have my moments. Anyway, and then, after you visited my dreams, I prayed for you. I continue to pray for you often, which is how I can get to you so easily now. I think God grants me those wishes.

"You.. you.. um.. you pray for me?"

"Don't sound so shocked. Being here in my dreams is much more appealing than how my usual days are spent, and I guess I feel better here, I don’t know. I like to be with you and want it more often than not, which is petrifying to me, because I am really not very girly and totally haven't been interested in a relationship in ages. But, yes, I guess I did pray for you and have asked for you. Is that bad?"

"No, beauty. No, it's not bad at all. Thank you. If I could ask God for favors, I would always ask Him for you."

"Awww, see you are getting all romantic on me. I might start to think you like me or something," I said as I swung out with my right leg, hooking it behind his left leg, and pulled him onto the bed with me.

He looked down into my eyes and said, "I liked you right away. Has my swag lost that much of it's umph, that you don't even know I care for you?"

"Ew! Please never use the term "swag" when referencing yourself. That's horrifying!" I joked.

"Okay, well my dashing good looks and charm are wasted on normal women, so you must be out of this world?"

"Did you just call me an alien? You're really bad at this…" My chest kept tightening from all of the laughter.

"Did you just not get that I called you "cosmic"? You're really bad at this too, fine. How about this? I will just say "Yeah, you're cool" and we can go up from there?" He tried to keep a straight face for more than ten seconds, but failed miserably.

"Fair enough, if I had to choose between you and roadkill, I would almost always pick you." It was my turn to lose my straight face.

"Oh now that is so romantic! Thank you! Now I can check that off of my "To Do" list. "Beautiful woman likes me more than dead-meat. CHECK!"

"See, your one step closer to having your list all finished!" I chuckled. "You're really fun. Thanks for making me laugh. I miss you when I'm not here with you," I said before realizing. I was having a nasty habit of over-sharing.

"I miss you every second you are away from me," he said, losing every bit of humor from his face.

"Uh oh, that truly did sound romantic that time."

"Good. Now do I get a gold star or something?" he asked sweetly.

"No, but you can have this." I leaned up to him as he still hovered slightly above me and captured his lips tenderly. I lay back down, and smiled up at him.

For the first time since he started visiting me or my visits to him, it would seem, we simply lay in bed, laughed, talked, and really enjoyed being together. I was having such a beautiful time that I forgot to look more into getting him out of there. I was letting Rey and myself down by losing myself to time with Devin, but it was well worth it. Usually my dreams were sexy, raw, powerful, then I was gone. Tonight I was truly getting to know Devin as a man, not just my Dream Man, and I was truly enjoying it. That thought scared me only seconds before it warmed my heart. It was nice to be wanted and to have someone that captured my attention so strongly. Now the trick to keeping him around, was to make it where he could be out of just my dream land and into life, but doing that was going to be the hard part, it seemed.

After hours of playing, enjoying our snacks lazily, kissing, and talking, I began to get tired. I snuggled up to Devin and we just lay there, listening to each other breathing. My heart felt light and happy, I never wanted that feeling to go away.

I felt myself drifting off to sleep and didn't want to lose my last thought to anything else, so I quietly said, "Dear God, I know I speak to you often and ask for the silliest things, like no line at the grocery store, or for something I want to be on Clearance. This is really important to me. Please God, if you can find it in Your plan, and Your heart, make Devin real and solid in my life. I will keep him safe with me, and we will follow Your words, Your guidance, and Your path for a better life, together. Amen." As with most nights, my final prayer of the night was in Devin's honor. This time, it was to have him with me.

I snuggled a bit closer to Devin, though at this point, we were nearly sharing flesh. I put my hand on his heart, kissed his chest, and let sleep take me.